


Snakes in Sunnydale

by Merfilly



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 07:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1974927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah Jane receives a call from an old associate and goes to aid him... and his team of youthful monster hunters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snakes in Sunnydale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pie_is_good](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pie_is_good/gifts).



Sarah Jane Smith was not unaccustomed to the telephone rousing her from a good night's sleep; news did not stop when the sun went down, and darkness often increased the alien invasions. She half-expected it to be UNIT, given that she and Mr. Smith had identified a commune recently that was actually a cover for aliens from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and passed that on. The Brigadier… her dear friend… had left instructions for his replacements to keep her informed on the end result from her tips.

"Smith," she answered as she blinked wearily, trying to engage as much of her sleep-fogged brain as she could.

"Oh dear, I did forget the time difference, didn't I?" came a voice that was half-familiar. "I am sorry, Miss Smith, but I find myself in need of your, ahem, more esoteric knowledges. Would you be willing to fly to America on short notice?"

It was the polite civility combined with 'America' that made Sarah's mind latch onto the details of her caller. Rupert Giles, member of one of the other secret organizations she had to be mindful of. They dealt with the arcane energies and beings that drew on those, all native to Earth or her neighboring planes, but occasionally aliens used those as well. That had been how Sarah had met the man, investigating an old monastery with a quite sinister reputation.

In the end, it had been aliens trying to summon demons, but she and Giles and his friends had stopped that in time for UNIT to apply their more explosive efforts to ending the threat completely.

"Mister Giles, it has been a long time. But if you've gone to the effort of finding my telephone number, it must be rather important. Where will I find my tickets?" she asked, swinging herself to an upright position.

"I promise it is very important," he assured her before giving over the travel details.

* * *

Sarah Jane Smith found herself meeting a pack of children that Mister Giles assured her were the finest at what they did. While she'd been little older than them when she first began pursuing her stories, there was a moment when Sarah Jane was certain Mister Giles had taken leave of his senses.

"I knew your society was rather overly fond of endangering young ladies, but now you bring more than just your precious Slayers into the fray as well?" she asked sharply as the boy, Xander, tripped over his own feet carrying a stack of old tomes to the table.

The boy turned and looked at her with a snap of anger in his eyes. "Excuse me, but he didn't bring us into any danger that we weren't living in already! This is our town, our school, our friends that pay the price. We're just the lucky ones who know the dangers and get to try and stop it!"

"What Xander said," Willow, the one Mister Giles had labeled as their witch, seconded.

"Some of us used to be the danger, so nyeah," Anya, a former vengeance demon said with the absolute least mature face she could conjure to add to her scorn of Sarah Jane's accusations.

"Miss Smith, I know that I have a most unusual assortment of assistants, but the situation here in Sunnydale is equally as unusual," Giles replied to her acerbity with a calming manner. "What I have asked you here to help us with is a strange case of possession occurring among those the demonic forces have already taken for their own. It is a case of evil on top of more evil, yet none of my research can aid us with this."

"I am not overly given to working on arcane matters," she pointed out. "The few times I have found myself in such investigations, it was due to an alien influence."

"Aliens? And she thinks we're the goofballs?" Xavier demanded.

"Xander, please," Buffy said to shush him. "Giles found one thing in a smelly old book that says the evil we face is not Earth-born."

"And if it's not from here, then it's an alien, d'uh," Willow told him. "Have you really met aliens, Miss Smith?"

"Too often," Sarah Jane replied without even thinking to censor herself. After all, this pack of children fought vampires, ghosts, demons, and all sorts of other unmentionables. "May I see the passage, Mister Giles?"

"Yes, yes, of course. All the victims were marked by a peculiar tattoo of a snake," Giles began as he opened the book closest at hand. "It gave me the sole clue to go on, as we were most distressed that the vampires in question survived the business end of a sharpened stake."

"That's not supposed to happen," Buffy said with a pout.

Sarah Jane came and looked over his shoulder at the painting of a malevolent looking snake, wondering why it was tripping some half-remembered story in her own mind.

"This line here loosely translates as 'evil from beyond the closest stars', indicating a non-terrestrial origin for what we are facing," Giles told her. Sarah Jane nodded, pulling out a card from her purse. It looked like a simple magnifier, but as she ran it over the section of the book, it glowed and hummed with energy.

"I have a distant associate that can look into it more quickly than I can dredge my memory for any mentions of such," she told Giles. "What do those who are marked do?" she asked as the information was sent directly to Mr. Smith for analysis.

"Currently, they are fomenting dissent among the local vampire gangs, possibly recruiting by force. Each night, we find more marked by the serpent."

Sarah Jane's phone lit up and buzzed with a text incoming, causing her to pull it out of her purse and look.

_Proceed carefully, Ms. Smith, as you are dealing with an alien concept of pure evil, given sentient form, known as the Mara. Based on flight records in the nearby area, I hypothesize that Ms. Jovanka has recently attended a flight there. Requesting that K-9 access TARDIS files for me to compute a plan. Once there is a plan, I shall contact appropriate persons to help Ms. Jovanka as you are busy elsewhere._

"He can do that?" Sarah Jane asked in a low voice, before worrying over Tegan. The woman had seen a lot of pain and fear in her travels with the Doctor. And now that Mr. Smith had named it, she recalled that story, told to her and Dorothy late one night when the storms had kept them all from sleeping during a visit. "Your demon vampire creatures have been possessed by a sentient alien essence of evil. I should have information on how to fight them soon." And then, she promised herself, she would pick up move on to see how Tegan was. It would likely be Jo and Ace, or perhaps Liz Shaw that Mr. Smith contacted.

"This sounds so fun," Xander said with a sigh.

* * *

"Doctor, why is the screen doing that?" Rose asked, pointing as information scrolled by on one of the displays. The Doctor came over just as it stopped on a picture of a malevolent looking snake creature.

"The Mara? I thought we finished that," the Doctor snapped off, paying more attention as the data file on the creature was carefully downloaded. 

"But why is it doing that?" Rose insisted.

"Oh, remote access. Friend of mine." He tapped out a quick message, checked the reply, and then nodded. "They'll handle it. But perhaps I'll see if the TARDIS would be so kind as to swing us that way," he added, changing their coordinates.

"You let people remote access the TARDIS?" Rose questioned, unsure of the wisdom of that.

"Only really good friends. The kind I give cell phones, so their mum can be reached from any where-when," the Doctor answered, smiling at her a moment before finishing his navigation.

* * *

"Xander and Anya will be the bait," Buffy said firmly as they began their tactical meeting on how to deal with the Mara infected vampires of Sunnydale.

"Yay," Xander said, with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

"Again?" was Anya's interjection. "I wish I could just go back to cursing them."

"Willow, you'll be helping me and Ms. Smith and Giles turn the panels as soon as they are in the alley," Buffy continued as if neither one had spoken.

"Oh that's super and I found a reflection spell that I can use in case anyone comes too close," Willow agreed.

"If we are all ready to face the alien evil sentient creature in its myriad forms, I suggest we be off," Giles said, making certain his team was armed with the stakes needed for once the Mara was vanquished.

"If only flashing a mirror got rid of all the evil in the world," Sarah Jane muttered, remembering her last encounter with the Master.

They hurried down to the chosen battled ground, not too far from the cemetery that the vampires in question were currently using. As dusk settled in, Xander and Anya were waiting, pelting the minions of the Mara with wooden crossbow bolts. 

The creatures, growing enraged, took up pursuit with Xander and Anya leading the merry chase right into the waiting trap.

* * *

Giles smiled as Sarah Jane readied to leave, her task done.

"You were most helpful," he said.

"It's what I do, you see. I help. I learn where the threats are, and I help fix them. It's the least I can do with what I learned over the years away," Sarah Jane said, ignoring the throb of melancholy that settled in, just thinking of the Doctor. "Your young helpers are enthusiastic and headstrong. Try not to let it undo them, Mr. Giles."

"I do try," he said, understanding her point in the danger of their lives. "Where to now, if I may ask?"

"My associates have taken care of the source of your infestation, but I have a tip about a school back home, one that may be under alien influence," she told him. "Off to use my press pass and get the scoop. With any luck, it's just a success story in the making."

"But you doubt it," he countered her forced optimism.

"I do." She gave him a smile back, tight and controlled, before leaving for the next adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The Mara is from the Fifth Doctor's tenure, episodes "Kinda" and "Snakedance", if I recall the titles correctly.
> 
> 2\. This is set just before "School Reunion" in the 2005 series of Dr. Who, though I have fudged just how long Sarah Jane has had Mr. Smith's help, I believe, by doing this.
> 
> 3\. The idea of former Earth Companions banding together in a loose association is too much for me to resist.


End file.
